An open ground is not in and of itself a problem. Grounds are there to dump excess voltage in case something goes wrong. If all our appliances worked properly all the time, there'd be no need for ground.
So what you have is two problems:
- Your fridge has a bare wire rubbing against the frame or other electrical short,
- And, the safety device meant to mitigate such a fault (ground) is broken.
If I were you, I'd replace the outlet, preferably with a GFI, and make sure the ground is attached. Then I'd have someone in to look at the fridge.
Residential Kitchen
In a dwelling unit (residential), GFCI protection is only required for kitchen receptacles that serve the countertop surfaces. There's no requirement to GFCI protect receptacles that serve a refrigerator. Unless the fridge is plugged into a countertop receptacle.
National Electrical Code 2014
Chapter 2 Wiring and Protection
Article 210 Branch Circuits
I. General Provisions
210.8 Ground-Fault Circuit-Interrupter Protection for Personnel. Ground-fault circuit-interrupter protection for personnel shall be provided as required in 210.8(A) through (C). The ground-fault circuit-interrupter shall be installed in a readily accessible location.
(A) Dwelling Units. All 125-volt, single-phase, 15- and
20-ampere receptacles installed in the locations specified in
210.8(A)(1) through (10) shall have ground-fault circuit interrupter protection for personnel.
(6) Kitchens— where the receptacles are installed to serve the countertop surfaces.
Garages, Unfinished Basement, and Other Locations
If the refrigerator is in a garage, boathouse, or unfinished basement. All the receptacles are required to be GFCI protected, so the fridge will have to be plugged into a GFCI protected receptacle.
Why does the fridge trip the GFCI?
Any inductive load when switched off, can produce electromagnetic interference (EMI). This interference can, and often does, trip GFCI devices. Most vapor compression refrigerators have a few inductive loads, any of which could cause the trip.
Is there anything that can be done?
There are devices called snubbers that can be used to reduce, or eliminate the effects of EMI. Installing one between the fridge and the GFCI device, could prevent nuisance trips. The best solution though, is to connect the fridge to a non-GFCI protected circuit.
If that's all it takes, why isn't there already one built in?
While most (all) manufacturers are aware that refrigerators can cause nuisance tripping of GFCI devices, most (none) seem willing to provide a solution. It would be complete speculation for me to try and tell you why they don't care, so of course I'll go through a few possibilities.
- Cost.
Plain and simple, it costs money to implement a solution.
- Warranties and Operating Conditions.
Most refrigerators are designed to operate in a kitchen. Running them in dusty, dirty garages and basements could lead to more warranty covered repairs.
Best Answer
I’m not going to address the issue of if a GFCI is required but instead directly address the asked question.
On a GFCI outlet, the are two sets of hot/neutral connections, “line” and “load”. The incoming power is connected to the “line” terminals. Downstream outlets to be protected are connected to the “load” terminals.
What you can do, on the GFCI, is disconnect the downstream wires from the “load” side and instead connect them, along with the power wires, to the “line” side. (You should probably do this with wirenuts connecting the wires along with short wires (pigtails) to the outlet.) This will remove the GFCI protection from all of the downstream outlets. Any that still need protection should be replaced by additional GFCI outlets, keeping everything connected to the “line” terminals.